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The best response to a miscreant is a series of indelible images placing the bad act in a context of much much larger good.

How does the Quran burning situation relate to the controversy over the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero? Both controversies show that America is still absorbing the psychic impact of Sept. 11 with raw feelings and no closure. If you are a Muslim whose loved ones were murdered on Sept. 11, both incidents may be affronts - one group bans your mosque and the other burns your holy book. If you are a non-Muslim whose loved ones were murdered on Sept. 11, you might feel that the mosque is a punch in the gut but the Quran burning is far out of bounds. If you are an American service member in Afghanistan or Iraq with Muslim allies, you have a lot more explaining to do - hopefully not to the barrel of a gun.

What is to be done? The best solution to hate speech is to flood the zone with positive speech. Prepare for Patriots Day 9/11/10 with visual after visual of people coming together to build a more perfect union through acts of service and community. America has millions of inter-faith and secular expressions of love and understanding; alas, rarely do they reach the internet with the same force and effect of negativity. We have the bandwidth - we just need to make the decision to use it as a force for good.

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